by Marcus Sloss
Luna waved her two-thumbed hand at me, so I sent her the file.
“I can work on this while you talk, Master.” She continued, “You have seen what information he brought us, including a new species; the council will pay handsomely. I see no harm…”
“Excuse us one moment.” Winston spun on Luna and pulled her to the side of the booth. “Do not speak so openly to me regarding what I should or should not allow in front of strangers. While you’re my niece, we are not at home,” he hissed.
I pretended to be interested in one of the displays so as not to embarrass either of them while Winston corrected his apprentice.
They sat back down in their chairs.
“In this case,” Winston growled, “I agree that you should assist him.”
“Forgive my transgression, Master Winston,” Luna said evenly. I got a hint she felt he was overreacting.
“I will only say thank you for accepting my list. The Divine-Apes were a blessing. I never thought they would be so intelligent, so powerful, and so mind-numbingly frightening,” I said, shifting in my chair to cross one leg over my knee. “The Divine-Apes’ feud with the Lurrol opened our eyes to a lot of realities, the foremost being that we were lucky we hadn’t aggravated either species. My wooden village with its simple small dirt wall and razor-wire is nothing to such creatures. Seeing those mighty goliaths in action made me feel …”
“Inferior?” Winston nodded. “We have fought the Lurrol but have never encountered the Divine-Apes. The Lurrol … well, they are no fun to kill. I can see that the Divine-Apes were not exactly friendly.”
“You digest information quickly,” I complimented him and he gave a confident shrug. “I lost a co-commander that I respected to Lilith’s wrath. Although she gave me a solid reason and rationale for his murder, seeing someone executed so peremptorily was quite a shock. I—”
Again, he held up his seven fingered hand to stop me. “We Arimi have many rules about how we handle information about the superior races. I have said all I can on the matter. Apologies. Please continue,” Winston said with a hint of remorse.
“There was a lot of chaos. I had attempted to save a matriarch Divine-Ape who was not in need of saving. Fortunately, she did not punish me for my transgression; in fact, Madam rewarded us. There was a lot of fighting. A lot. I remember feeling inadequate but still had some impact on the fight. After that battle of titans, it was as if we had entered the eye of a hurricane. The chaos went away. We spent seven-plus days peacefully building, integrating, and looting to prepare for this golden market. Our lives have stabilized.” I grimaced as the memory left a sour taste in my mouth. “I even had another dozen people leave, thinking they were better off on their own, only to find another two hundred people huddled in a school basement desperate for our assistance.”
Winston bobbed his tail. “I see that from your report, your species is uncertain even amongst yourselves. That is very common for recently quarantined species, in the beginning. You will find that some refuse to fight, while others despise hunkering down; it is not in their nature to either be vigilant or to be afraid. We have studied many species over the eons. Yours will be no different. The smart, the lucky, and the patient survive; the irrational perish.
“I would caution you about something, though,” his voice dropped to a discrete rumble, “When asked if the powers controlling the gates are good or evil, play undecided—at least here in the market—that will let you trade more. Sure, some may preach what they believe is ‘gospel’ to vindicate their particular feelings, but sometimes a few minutes of preaching is worth a new gravity tank. Speaking of which,” he smirked, “you should have stolen the self-replicating crop-growing systems in their entirety. Building manufacturing capacity will pay dividends. Even I would have bought fresh-grown animal feed for variety.”
His assistant’s tail raised itself by Winston’s head, and he turned her way. “What did you find, Luna?”
“We just arrived at the market. The teams out updating lists are slowly reporting in, but I do have a few candidates based on last week’s offerings. The Mounamine are a great species. The females are only hostile to other females around the male they desire; hardly an aggressive species worthy of containment, but that is how it works. They resemble mouse-like creatures, with whiskers and small beady noses, but a torso much the same as ours,” Luna said, running a hand down her flawless blue body. I may have stared a bit longer than I should have. A wagging finger pulled my eyes off her juicy tits. “Then there are the Orinia. They hop around on four legs and have tiny arms, with balancing tails; they are very quick over short distances. They make amazing childcare providers, as none of their charges ever escape their careful watch. We keep several of them ourselves; in fact, I have three managing my children right now. Both of these species breed decently, but generally have no home planets of their own, any longer.”
“Have no homes?” I asked, a bit confused.
“Ah, silly human…” A stern gaze from Winston made Luna pause. “I apologize. We Arimi try not to offend those like yourself capable of that kind of destruction.”
“Please forgive my transgression,” Luna said, bending at the waist.
“Forgiven.” I waved a hand, “Please elaborate more on these Mounamine and Orinia.”
Luna sat upright before continuing, “They are sub-species, but intelligent. They no longer have home-worlds to defend anymore. They are only subservient races because their mating rituals included an aggressive element—not all quarantined species are warrior societies or adapt well to this ‘Vikingism’, as you call it. Neither the Mounamine or the Orinia occupy major settlements where they are considered the dominant species. They are completely reliant upon truly aggressive species for protection. Freeing one such to the Xgates would see them become food or they would simply be contracted again. So, do not set them free. They will almost always renew their contracts of servitude.”
I frowned, but understood. I was upset with myself that we hadn’t thought of this earlier. Then again, our community was new to the ways of the quarantine.
“It sound like these are the perfect species to become our ideal workers. I was being honest when I said that, ideally, we seek species that we can help. Any Crixxi or Human—”
“Stop that line of thought, Cap, for your own good.” Winston huffed, “Crixxi, sure—they bend to the whims of their tribe masters and almost never rebel. Humans, however, will chop off your head and gladly sacrifice themselves in the name of the gate gods. Never trust the blue tattooed monsters, as we call them,” Winston said.
“Blue tattooed monsters?” I raised an eyebrow.
“They infuse their bodies with a different sort of Virum host called Lexium. These Lexium give them blue tattoos, as it liquefies their blood in swirling boils that raise the skin.” He snorted, “Consider yourself warned. Your Earth humans will be coveted, I doubt many will be for sale. You will have plenty of homeless races to pick from that you could use in a place like Stronghold Mansion. You’re inherently different on a fundamental level, Cap.” He grinned, “That is why we were so quick to accept your trade.”
A two-legged, three-headed bird being walked up behind my chair. A report was sent over my shoulder. Winston accepted the transfer and sent his own.
“Cheers, Aggrixi,” Winston said, and the creature wandered to the edge of the orbital. I watched the gravity change and pull him out of the structure. “You almost done, Luna?”
“Yes,” she looked up from her display, “though there are many variables. How many can you hold? Do you want Crixxi warriors or domesticated servants?”
“Well,” I smirked, “ten thousand, give or take.”
This caused Winston to frown. “You were at a population of only a thousand last time I saw you, correct?” Winston asked with an inquisitive tone.
“We absorbed another stronghold with plenty of additional housing. There was a foul odor that we have mostly removed, but Aspen is ready for more residents and
we have freezers packed with meat. Looting has been our primary goal, and right now it is paying dividends. Our secondary objective has been to improve our housing. We have made so much progress lately, it’s like the apocalypse never happened. We have even increased our cleared land for farming and have raided additional Yexin. After today, if we manage to get a relatively manageable blue spawn, we can hold many more,” I said, feeling rather optimistic. “Fate will tell, though.”
“Okay, there is a large tribe of Crixxi, three thousand strong, that is up for auction. They surrendered on Mixonis to the Vempia species. Eww,” her lip curled in disgust, “that species are zealots for the Gate Gods. The auction is set to end a few hours before the golden market expires. Here is the location. As for the Mounamine, here are the locations of a dozen breeders. Mind you, the females cost more, but the males work any task just as well. The Orinia can swap between sexes, so,” Luna said with a chuckle, “males and females cost the same amount.” She pointed to an area of the market on the map, “All servile species are in one common area. Let me warn you, though I am thousands of years old and my uncle far wiser than I, we only recommend a course of action. If you buy a random species and are disappointed, do not get upset with us if it hurts your community long term.” She looked up to her Uncle. “Does this complete our transaction, Master Winston?”
The Arimi looked at me and I nodded. The information was sent to my translator.
“I will stick to this list. Thank you, Luna; thank you, Winston. Should I have the Tavers make additional chairs for my next visit?” I asked, rising to my feet.
“Consider them purchased. Five per, if you can. Until next time, Cap,” Winston said, flashing his teeth. Luna produced an odd wave with her tail.
I turned towards the exit. My next stop was to talk to my armorer and logistician, Torrez. I reached the exterior gravity elevator and was whisked to our custom storage container after a brief exposure to the void.
I found Torrez sorting loot on a rack of shelves, tapping his chin. “How is it looking?” I asked, peering over his shoulder.
“Extremely well. The no-brainer purchases have already been initiated,” Torrez said. I walked over to check his list. “Mostly building equipment … three new bull dozer type machines ... Ah, good, here they are!” he exclaimed
The storage room rapidly expanded. Massive digging machines occupied a majority of the remaining empty floor space. These were for digging into the mountains. I walked over to one the size of a big rig to study the details of the massive contraption. A brown glow told me it was powered by a carbon power generator. There were no wheels or tracks, as it hovered off the ground like an anti-gravity sled. Each had a single seat in an enclosed cabin for an operator. At the head of the machine was something akin to spiked pistons, with pumps to fire them; a horizontal conveyor belt, of sorts, ran through the interior of the machine. My guess was that the front smashed rocks into bricks or bits and then ejected the refuse out the rear. There were several configuration options, and I saw where the piston alignments could be adjusted on reconfigurable rails. The refuse could even be processed by each machine. You could make both rectangular and arched bricks, which made smile. I remembered from high-school history that arches were much stronger than rectangular door frames.
Another set of machines were added to the storage room, giving me a jolt of surprise. It looked like the wood processor back at the Mansion now had friends. Four more, to be exact. Their wide-mouth feed trays were closed for travel. These also sat on their own anti-gravity sled, and would be towed home from the Xgate by a single truck.
Felix and Dalila arrived, and started transferring the new purchases out the portal. I stepped back, letting them work, when another batch of earth moving dozers arrived. My goodness. Maybe, one day, we could shift our production into manufacturing and advanced crafts.
Massive cranes folded up into the corner next to me, forcing the room to spawn more space. Yes! I pumped my fist in the air and did a little dance. I was getting castle walls and a manor. Booyah!
Seeing all the machinery stacking up beside me, I became concerned with how much all this was costing me. It was difficult to gauge the outflow of high-cost purchases against the inflow of whatever our loot was worth.
“Are we going to have enough money for projected armor and weapon upgrades?” I asked Torrez, though the machines impressed me so much, the smile never left my face.
“Oh yeah, guaranteed. We have so much, I don’t know how to spend it all,” Torrez scoffed.
“Well, when is the burrowing transport station supposed to arrive?” I asked, knowing that was a key item on our must-buy list.
“The underway? Jacky has it—she even picked up two additional location portals for future expansions. We are doing fine on our account balances; and we have yet to finish looting Denver. This is going to be a very busy shopping session. Oh, hey, Perci,” Torrez said to the sound of approaching footsteps.
My little wife hung on my arm. “How did it go with Winston?” Perci asked.
“Great. Here is the updated data; Winston said he’ll continue to update it. No species breakdown yet, but one day I will win him over. You're still taking Everly personnel shopping?” I asked her, then snuck in a quick kiss and a subtle ass grab. “I missed our morning exercise.”
Torrez rolled his eyes. “I will be super excited when we get your manor built. Jasmine asks if she can watch TV on the fold-out bed in RV3 at least three times a day, but half the time the darn thing is rocking,” Torrez said with a head-shaking snicker.
“I heard Maria can’t keep her stones in and gave up,” Perci said with a waggle of her eyebrows.
“Ugh, I swear. It’s that stupid line Eric used … ‘What better way for us to prove we believe in the future than by having children?’ I plan to hand off my kids to you when they stink or are in full-on terror mode, and then steal them back when they are behaving themselves,” Torrez smirked, nodding his head to his own little fantasy.
I saw Everly enter the storage area. My Crixxi cutie was in yoga leggings and a plain pink shirt; her red tail swishing behind her. “Everly,” I bounded over to her, “there are three thousand Crixxi coming up for bid in the market. I’d like to bolster our army numbers.” Everly’s purple eyes shone. “In the file I’m sending you,” I tapped at my Gpad, “there is also data on two other species we should purchase … Mounamine and Orinia, if I am reading this right. I was—”
Everly stopped me with a hand on my shoulder and a kiss on the cheek. “Those are fantastic species to add. We Crixxi never use them, because they are both horrid climbers and afraid of heights. But for you ground dwellers, they will be perfect. There is also a docile tree bear, not unlike a panda, that we will be buying to help the Crixxi in our towers,” Everly said, running a hand down the machines. “I missed you this morning, my chief. You should run less and stay in bed more,” she pouted. “These machines are making me purr, and you—”
“Would you look at the time,” Torrez said, and Perci chuckled, deciding to help the poor man out.
“Torrez,” she ordered, “I need you to go armament shopping, as in, ten minutes ago.”
He shrugged, grinned, then handed her his lists. As he turned to go weapons shopping, I sought to escape with him. Everly pouted her lips, begging for a kiss. Having granted her wish with a tender smooch, Torrez and I sped off for the market. It was time to go soldier toy shopping. I sighed happily. About freaking time.
CHAPTER 2
“How much further?” I asked as we strolled down the corridor of booths.
“Cap, we’ll get there when we get there, the same thing I tell Jasmine. Why, did you get distracted?” Torrez said with a smirk.
“Those siren babes were… babes. Too bad we don’t have an ocean nearby. I eventually want a water fighting force,” I said with a shrug. We passed a wood carving trinket store. Good to see the arts hadn’t died, even during this age of Vikingism. We passed a livestock vendor showing customer
s a pig-like creature bigger than an elephant, with short, striped fur. “Maybe they’d have chickens?” I mused.
“Boss, the whole point of this crazily disorganized market not letting you go to exactly where you want is for just this reason. You are forced to window shop and every merchant along the way gets a crack at you,” Torrez said with a chuckle. “I promise, we can check for chickens on the way back, after we get more weapons and arms. Maria has been asking for some chicken eggs, anyhow. Those green eggs taste just fine, but she wants the real thing,” he sighed, “Women!”
“She was working for Perci, right? What is she doing these days?” I asked, knowing that between Jacky, Everly, and the other Mother Hens, Perci had plenty of help with her tasks.
“She hasn’t committed to any new roles. Right now, she is task jumping. She was helping me for a bit, but we got into a scuffle—a minor one, mind—over how I could never find the things right in front of my face. She has many options to choose from,” Torrez said with a chuckle. My mom always gave me a hard time about the same thing. “You know, it's really interesting that we’re building up to a true economy. It won’t happen overnight, but it is great to see. I love Maria and we are great together, but we need space between us to stay together. I hope she finds something she truly enjoys doing.” He looked over at me, “Speaking of boring lovers … Why do you tell Everly you are going for a run, only to spend time with Jill and Mary?”
“The babes know,” I said, with a wince. “I intend to go for a run. But then I run into this adorable little girl who wants to go on a hike. I don’t really need to run, with the virum in my body, but I do need to clear my mind. Turns out, an innocent three-year-old is the perfect reset for me. Our conversations are so basic. I love how simple our time together is; Jill rarely says a word.” He grinned at this. I smirked. “My other four ladies even jogged past us this morning as we strolled along. Jill normally takes off at that point, to jog with the others.”
